Hello! I am Saeeda Ravenell (pronounced Si-ee-duh, it's an Arabic name) and my roots run deep in Charleston. Both my mother's and father's families are from Mount Pleasant and Awendaw, so this is my home. I graduated from Charleston Southern back in 2009 with a B.A. in English and was thoroughly convinced that I would never be a teacher. Despite the recommendations, encouragement, and guidance of great advisors and professors, I was born a stubborn thing and knew I would never "sell-out" and become a teacher. But, life happened. I had to live a little, experience some things to realize teaching is the best thing that I could have been called to do. I am currently a teacher's assistant in an ED (emotionally disabled) special education classroom. My hats go off the all special educators! We focus primarily on behavior and consequences, and instruction comes next. The classroom I currently teach in is the complete opposite from the classrooms that I will most likely encounter as a high school English teacher.The interventions that I have learned while working in an ED classroom will facilitate a significant amount of growth throughout my teaching career. Educators have to be advocates, and the population I serve is underrepresented because of the lack of advocates for the special education population.
How did I get here?
So, I'm sure the next question is how did I go from a B.A. in English to working in a self-contained, ED special education classroom?! Well, before I applied for the position, I always had an interest for special education. I worked two years at the Disability Board of Charleston County, and found that my own experiences and those of the individuals that the board serves has much in common! I had people that advocated for me in so many instances, and I owe them such gratitude for my progress and opportunities that I have been presented with because of their advocacy. The special education population deserves the same. I thought long and hard about what type of impact I wanted to make on my future students. While reading and writing are my first loves, I find that the best way to reach students is to celebrate their differences, and make themes in specialized content area applicable to their lives. What easier way to get them to really reach the content then apply it to an individualized and personal experience they have went through? While my classroom experiences have been anything but conventional, I can't even begin to express how much I continuously learn about differences, respecting differences, and how important accommodation is while teaching students. Like fingerprints, no two people are the same so we can't teach them as such.
Goals for this course
As I stated above, I work in an ED special education classroom. We use SmartBoard occasionally, but mostly we use our fancy overhead projector because we do a lot of whole group instruction. We also do a good bit of direct instruction, which requires no technology, and I believe it would be a lot more effective if it could be incorporated into direct instruction because of the energy level of the students in my class. I would love to learn more about how to use SmartBoard, as I like interactive games and I think they would be a hit in any age group. Think about it, everyone loves games! We have Dave & Busters for adults and places like Chucky Cheese for the kids. Interactive games provide ways for learning to be fun for any age group and grade.
I think in order for me to become more comfortable and overcome my fear of technology I have to alter how I naturally do things. I am a future English teacher, so by nature I am organized and typically stick to routine. So, using a lot of technology within my personal life, as well as my career, is a stretch for me. My fear is for technology to stretch from being supplemental material to becoming a source of dependency. An even mix of both is significant for the classroom and an important thing for an educator to distinguish. For my project in this course, I would love to do something that challenges me and a project that I could use for years to come within my classroom. By the end of this course, I hope to be extremely comfortable using technology within my classroom as a supplementary enhancement to my lessons.
Jonathon, the main character in the book
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain Prezi
This was my first time using Prezi. After watching a few YouTube videos, I was able to get use to it much easier than when I first played with it in class. The students in my class are reading this book as a whole-group activity during our English Language Arts block. They are listening to an audio book while following along in the book. I included a number of review questions about the story. Students in the age group that I work with, which is a combination of elementary and middle school students, are fans of pictures and graphics. My students love technology and any type of graphics, and I made sure to include that in my presentation. While making my Prezi presentation aesthetically pleasing to them, I made sure that the review questions and the pictures I included were complimentary to one another. This helps the students in having a visual representation of what the correct answer is, and it helps prompt them to chose the correct answer. Because I am in the MAT program, I plan on completing a Prezi for my future high school students. One important aspect that I would have to greatly consider is the amount of pictures that I include in the Prezi presentation, as the population of high school students are very different from the elementary and middle school population. I enjoyed using this, and look forward to using it throughout my teaching career.
Reactions...
My students, as well as other staff members, thoroughly enjoyed this Prezi. The lead teacher asked that I design another Prezi presentation for our next whole-group English Language Arts read aloud activity, which is for the novel Shiloh. My students were impressed with how interactive and dimensional the Prezi was. While I was standing in the front of the classroom operating the laptop, I could see their eyes curiously and intensely follow the arrows and the different directions the presentation was going in. They responded with the presentation, as they yelled out the answers while the pictures covered the screen. They had fun! As I stated above, the pictures that I included in the review questions helped to facilitate the students' visual memory on particular aspects of the book. Prezi is an effective tool that I could use in my classroom as reviewing material, introductory material (introducing new material to my students before we read a novel or study a particular genre, era, etc.), or having my students create one pertaining to a lesson that I create.
Digital Storytelling the Layers of the Atmosphere
Unfortunately, I had a difficult time with this assignment. I had a hard time using the software, WeVideo, to explain the scientific concept of the atmosphere's layers using a storybook method. I created this video for the older classroom of students at the school that I work at. They range from the ages of 10-15, and they enjoy anything relating to science and the outdoors. I incorporated music instead of using my voice to read the information on each picture. I figured if I would have used both, it may have been a strong possibility of increasing the likelihood of sensory overload. I tried not to include a long and lengthy explanation of each atmosphere since the graphics and other stimulating features were present in the video. I was unable to present it to this class because by the time I finished editing the video the class had already been introduced to the concepts of atmosphere layers.
Possible Reactions
This assignment has taught me that timing is important. Think about it. When we are presenting something, why do we place an emphasis on timing or placing something in a particular position, or introducing it at a certain time? It is important for the audience. The ultimate goal is to emphasize either a particular point to your audience or teach a lesson. Consider a movie. A director may intentionally place a certain scene ahead of another to introduce to the audience. They could do this to emphasize a point. My fault in this project was the timing of how the slides overlapped. How can I expect my students to read the text on the slides if I did not time them appropriately? There was not enough allotted time for them to read the information and move onto the next slide. Although I would like to use this in my class for the future, I would pick an easier medium to produce the video project. I would also take more time to ensure that the timing between each scene is appropriate enough for the students to read through and understand the information they are reading.
Since my students love social media, I decided to use the course management resource Schoology. Its appearance is similar to Facebook allowing students and teachers to post a number of different things.Teachers are able to post assignments and students can respond to posts, link videos, and see what their peers are posting in response to the teacher's assignments. I chose to post on the appropriate usage of the words lose, loose, and lost. I started out by linking a short YouTube video on the uses of those words. This is a helpful resource for the students to refer to before the assignment so they have a better chance of providing the correct answer. Then, I provide a passage for the students to read through and correct the italicized words lose, loose, lost. I tried my best to make the passage as "youth friendly," as possible. I want my students to be able to relate to the content that we go over in my classroom while learning the importance of differentiating these terms or homophones. I believe that integrating a medium of technology along with an instructional passage can help my students grasp this concept better.
Schoology Website
Grammar: Lose or Loose?
This link will bring up the editing assignment that I created for my students using the Schoology website. This academic site is very similar to the popular social media forum Facebook, and I think this will help my students to easily navigate it. I posted the YouTube video along with a paragraph that I want my students
to edit using the information that they gathered from the YouTube video. I intentionally posted a paragraph that I believe would interest my students: dating! Learning is fun when teachers link a universal theme or
concept, like love or dating, to academics. I made the paragraph trite to amuse my students and spark their interest in understanding homophones. This is an assignment I would use as a brain-teaser. This assignment would be the equivalent to cardio in exercise: this would get the blood flowing to the brain and help warm the students up for a bigger assignment.
Oral History Assignment
As I stated previously in this course, my ultimate goal is to teach in a Title I school. I find that so many children from these schools do not know much about their predecessors, especially those that resemble them in looks, dialect, and background. What better way to connect to them than have them study someone they can relate to? There are two very important concepts that I want my high school students to gather from this oral history assignment: history is an essential component of growth and humility is an essential character trait. These concepts encompass my mission statement of teaching, as I teach to inspire my students universally that extends beyond high school. Above, I have included a video of some colleagues, friends, and relatives speaking about the life of Mr. Philip Simmons during his funeral. I find that his legacy is important for my future students as they can learn more about the history present throughout the city they call home. I also think his backstory can inspire them to see that they do not have to be a product of their environment. Mr Simmons was born in Daniel Island, but had to go to school in Charleston (Buist Academy) because during the time of segregation he was unable to attend schools closer to his home. Can you imagine if he was a product of his environment?
This video would be included as another example of a oral history video entailing the life of Mr. Philip Simmons. I would give my students two options in this assignment: I would have them conduct an interview with someone that personally knew Mr. Simmons (whether that's a family member or friend). This interview would have to be at least 3 minutes long and either audio or video recorded, also asking that students provide a 2 page research page explaining the significance of Mr. Simmons' contributions to Charleston and why his legacy is so important. I think that requiring them to conduct their own research prior to the assignment would be helpful in them gathering questions and other important information that could be used in the interview. Below are some resources that they could use to begin their research to develop ideas for their interviewing process. I will attach a copy of the assignment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG7PIryK9EMhttp://philipsimmons.us/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwOFoasI5bUhttp://www.philipsimmons.us/simmonsshop.html
Wikispace for Ms. Rav's Class English II CP Class
The wikispace I created is an extension of my oral history project. The reason why I decided to use wikispace to further expand the detailed instructions on the oral history project is because wikispace compartmentalizes the different parts of the project. I would assign this project as a semester long one, focusing on a research paper component as well as the actual interview. Like most educators, I believe that the wikispace is a safe way to ensure that their students always have access to their assignments. With the wikispace, your students will have no excuse as to why they missed a portion or part of the assignment. Along with the Wikispaces, I will provide my students with a hard copy of the assignment. This is ideal for those that do not internet access at home.Using wikispaces, everything is directly in front of them and easily accessible.
Expectations and Benefits of using Wikispaces
pect for my students to use the calendar on the Wikispace to ensure that they are up to date in turning in their assignments since this is a semester long project. I also expect for my students to utilize the Wikispace as a means of gathering input from their classmates and myself about their projects as they work on it. The Wikispace will eliminate most of the paper trail associated with large assignments. The Wikispace acts as a forum for the students to refer back to as a reference point for the assignments.The compartmentalizing of the different sections the project is broken up into will benefit the students. The tabs on the right side, which are the sections of the project, will help the students understand the project as a whole. MsRavsENG2CP
Blogs in Ms. Ravenell's Classroom
The only thing that is constant in life is change, Things that were used when I was in elementary, middle, and high school are becoming prehistoric. For example, I learned how to write in cursive in the third grade, and now that is becoming something of the past. Within the realm of teaching, I am constantly reminded of how far away we are getting from using the traditional pencil and paper method for learning and leaning more toward using technology to replace the tools of pencil and paper. This picture represents the main reason I would use blogs within my classroom. Documenting, reflecting, connecting, and sharing those ideas with people is an important component in writing. I think that blogs would serve the purpose in my classroom of having my students to "write" everyday although it may i may not be regarded as "writing" in the traditional sense. Again, utilizing pencil and paper is becoming a thing of the past, but as long as my students are documenting their ideas and formulating thoughtful and conclusions from their observations is important to me.
Introducing Blogs in my Classroom
Before I assign my first blog assignment to my class, I plan on going through the "how-to's" of using Edublogs in my classroom. This will ensure that my students know how to navigate the platform of blogging and how we will use it within the class. It would be a step-by-step process of responding to a blog post (of which I wold pick the topic) and having them to collectively respond during this "how-to" session. Not only would I show them how to navigate it through my class, I also hope to learn what they know and are familiar with in regards to blogging.
Blogging Assignments
I want my students to understand why it is important to be able to effectively communicate outside of an academic platform, as well as within. I will base my assignments around things happening in pop culture or topics that will directly effect them. For example with the upcoming election, I would post a topic centering around what are their values and what's important to their culture. I would then get them to consider, based on their answers, what their ideal leader would look like. So, they are documenting their ideals and reflecting on those ideals they visibly posted. I would then get them to connect their ideals to another person's in the class, or I may ask that they chose someone that strongly contrasts from their own. Assignments like this would allow them to use blogging as a facilitator in teaching them how to openly and respectfully communicate their thoughts. This is an important skill that they will use beyond my classroom.
Educational Technology Publication
Equality is very important to me. The practice and maintenance of equality is especially important within the education system. Teachers are constantly influencing individuals. It is important that treating all students as equals is promoted. As a future educator, I believe that advocating for my students is as equally as important as providing them with the best instructional practices that I can. My duty is to make sure that they receive the best education I can provide, as I believe that all students deserve fair and equal treatment. This is a reason why I The article "Intended and Unintended Consequences on Social Inequality" examines the inequality issues surrounding educational technology.
"Intended and Unintended Consequences of Educational Technology on Social Inequality"
The authors Tawfik, Reeves, and Stich use the article to focus on inequalities that are present within the education system, focusing specifically on social inequalities. Research shows that social inequality leads to an increase in mental health problems, imprisonment rates, school-dropout, drug usage, and instances of teen births (598).. Also, a student's socioeconomic background, and their ethnicity creates an inequality for these students. The lower the student's parental income, education, and occupation the less likely they will attain educational achievement. This article examines the gap that the access and usage of technology in the classroom can help to close these inequality gaps.
Tawfik, Reeves, & Stich present evidence within this article of how schools with lower socioeconomic status' lack the educational technology for students. Those students that may have available access to technology in their classroom have an advantage over those schools that serve students with lower socioeconomic status. Ultimately, using technology within the class is a means of opening up opportunities and enhancing student success. The inequality within educational technology is that those that are not presented with the same educational technology opportunities as those that come from privilege.
This is the downloaded pdf of the article. I located it on Education ProQuest
Smore Newsletter
Smore NewsletterI am leaning towards structuring my classroom towards the flipped format, and I believe having my students create a newsletter during a computer based learning period would allow them to apply what they reviewed at home and apply it in my classroom. This media creation would allow for expression, creativity, and a thorough understanding of the content. Creation is one of the best ways to exercise application. My assignment would entail my students creating a newsletter using the website Smore. The site is user-friendly, as I was able to easily navigate through and create a sample newsletter for my students to view.
I would have my students act as though they are business owners (independently or with another individual or group of people), and I would have them to create a newsletter in class using Smore. The first class we would spend creating their individual newsletter pages, and then each day during class they could have 30 minutes to work on it each time they come to my class.
How does this relate to English?
Newsletters are a way for businesses to market and advertise their brand. They use them electronically and some are even handwritten I would tie this into a lesson on formulating, writing, and creating an effective argument. This would just be a "pre reading media creation" assignment to lead them into persuasion and arguing points, formally and informally.
Edited Assignment
For this assignment, I decided to edit the oral history project that I designed around Mr. Philip Simmons, the iron worker from Charleston, SC. My belief is that creativity is prompted when an educator allows students to create work without setting limitations of their work. I made that mistake with my first version of this project. I asked that my students solely focus their oral history projects on Philip Simmons instead of allowing them to chose their own person to research and interview for the project. Although I decided to not limit their projects on Philip Simmons, I would still provide his videos that I used in the initial oral history project that I created. This example will get the students thinking into the frame of mind of uncovering factual information
One of the biggest changes I made to this project is allowing my students to chose their own "local leader" to research. The only limitation I placed on the assignment is that the individual has to be from Charleston. It is still important for me that my students learn and study individuals that they can relate to in some form.I listed blacks from Charleston, but will give my students the option to chose someone not listed. I provided a list of "local leaders" for them to chose from, although it is not mandatory for them to chose from the list, as I think options are important. I also attached an example of an assignment sheet including more information and assignments pertaining to the project that I would distribute to my students. I also put together a tentative list of due dates pertaining to the project.
Below, I have attached a copy of the assignment sheet that I would give to my students.
Reflecting on the semester I spent with technology
I could not have taken this course at a better time. Along with this course, I am in EDUC 592, which focuses on teaching ELA to high school students. The different types of technology that I have been introduced to in this course as well as how to use them will help me so much once I begin my career in teaching. The days of students reading from a tangible book are long one, as technology is such an integral and normal part of technology.
How has this course changed me?
I believe that experience shapes our views. I work in an ED classroom, so when I create things as supplement material to help my students, I often think of the most thorough and concise way of doing so. When things are explained in a clear and concise manner, our students are most likely able to follow. As I believed and openly stated conforming to using technology is necessary, and prior to this course I was one of those afraid of doing so.
Complex & Humble Beginnings...
Hello! I am Saeeda Ravenell (pronounced Si-ee-duh, it's an Arabic name) and my roots run deep in Charleston. Both my mother's and father's families are from Mount Pleasant and Awendaw, so this is my home. I graduated from Charleston Southern back in 2009 with a B.A. in English and was thoroughly convinced that I would never be a teacher. Despite the recommendations, encouragement, and guidance of great advisors and professors, I was born a stubborn thing and knew I would never "sell-out" and become a teacher. But, life happened. I had to live a little, experience some things to realize teaching is the best thing that I could have been called to do. I am currently a teacher's assistant in an ED (emotionally disabled) special education classroom. My hats go off the all special educators! We focus primarily on behavior and consequences, and instruction comes next. The classroom I currently teach in is the complete opposite from the classrooms that I will most likely encounter as a high school English teacher.The interventions that I have learned while working in an ED classroom will facilitate a significant amount of growth throughout my teaching career. Educators have to be advocates, and the population I serve is underrepresented because of the lack of advocates for the special education population.
How did I get here?
So, I'm sure the next question is how did I go from a B.A. in English to working in a self-contained, ED special education classroom?! Well, before I applied for the position, I always had an interest for special education. I worked two years at the Disability Board of Charleston County, and found that my own experiences and those of the individuals that the board serves has much in common! I had people that advocated for me in so many instances, and I owe them such gratitude for my progress and opportunities that I have been presented with because of their advocacy. The special education population deserves the same. I thought long and hard about what type of impact I wanted to make on my future students. While reading and writing are my first loves, I find that the best way to reach students is to celebrate their differences, and make themes in specialized content area applicable to their lives. What easier way to get them to really reach the content then apply it to an individualized and personal experience they have went through? While my classroom experiences have been anything but conventional, I can't even begin to express how much I continuously learn about differences, respecting differences, and how important accommodation is while teaching students. Like fingerprints, no two people are the same so we can't teach them as such.Goals for this course
As I stated above, I work in an ED special education classroom. We use SmartBoard occasionally, but mostly we use our fancy overhead projector because we do a lot of whole group instruction. We also do a good bit of direct instruction, which requires no technology, and I believe it would be a lot more effective if it could be incorporated into direct instruction because of the energy level of the students in my class. I would love to learn more about how to use SmartBoard, as I like interactive games and I think they would be a hit in any age group. Think about it, everyone loves games! We have Dave & Busters for adults and places like Chucky Cheese for the kids. Interactive games provide ways for learning to be fun for any age group and grade.I think in order for me to become more comfortable and overcome my fear of technology I have to alter how I naturally do things. I am a future English teacher, so by nature I am organized and typically stick to routine. So, using a lot of technology within my personal life, as well as my career, is a stretch for me. My fear is for technology to stretch from being supplemental material to becoming a source of dependency. An even mix of both is significant for the classroom and an important thing for an educator to distinguish. For my project in this course, I would love to do something that challenges me and a project that I could use for years to come within my classroom. By the end of this course, I hope to be extremely comfortable using technology within my classroom as a supplementary enhancement to my lessons.
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain Prezi
This was my first time using Prezi. After watching a few YouTube videos, I was able to get use to it much easier than when I first played with it in class. The students in my class are reading this book as a whole-group activity during our English Language Arts block. They are listening to an audio book while following along in the book. I included a number of review questions about the story. Students in the age group that I work with, which is a combination of elementary and middle school students, are fans of pictures and graphics. My students love technology and any type of graphics, and I made sure to include that in my presentation. While making my Prezi presentation aesthetically pleasing to them, I made sure that the review questions and the pictures I included were complimentary to one another. This helps the students in having a visual representation of what the correct answer is, and it helps prompt them to chose the correct answer. Because I am in the MAT program, I plan on completing a Prezi for my future high school students. One important aspect that I would have to greatly consider is the amount of pictures that I include in the Prezi presentation, as the population of high school students are very different from the elementary and middle school population. I enjoyed using this, and look forward to using it throughout my teaching career.Reactions...
My students, as well as other staff members, thoroughly enjoyed this Prezi. The lead teacher asked that I design another Prezi presentation for our next whole-group English Language Arts read aloud activity, which is for the novel Shiloh. My students were impressed with how interactive and dimensional the Prezi was. While I was standing in the front of the classroom operating the laptop, I could see their eyes curiously and intensely follow the arrows and the different directions the presentation was going in. They responded with the presentation, as they yelled out the answers while the pictures covered the screen. They had fun! As I stated above, the pictures that I included in the review questions helped to facilitate the students' visual memory on particular aspects of the book. Prezi is an effective tool that I could use in my classroom as reviewing material, introductory material (introducing new material to my students before we read a novel or study a particular genre, era, etc.), or having my students create one pertaining to a lesson that I create.Digital Storytelling the Layers of the Atmosphere
Unfortunately, I had a difficult time with this assignment. I had a hard time using the software, WeVideo, to explain the scientific concept of the atmosphere's layers using a storybook method. I created this video for the older classroom of students at the school that I work at. They range from the ages of 10-15, and they enjoy anything relating to science and the outdoors. I incorporated music instead of using my voice to read the information on each picture. I figured if I would have used both, it may have been a strong possibility of increasing the likelihood of sensory overload. I tried not to include a long and lengthy explanation of each atmosphere since the graphics and other stimulating features were present in the video. I was unable to present it to this class because by the time I finished editing the video the class had already been introduced to the concepts of atmosphere layers.
Possible Reactions
This assignment has taught me that timing is important. Think about it. When we are presenting something, why do we place an emphasis on timing or placing something in a particular position, or introducing it at a certain time? It is important for the audience. The ultimate goal is to emphasize either a particular point to your audience or teach a lesson. Consider a movie. A director may intentionally place a certain scene ahead of another to introduce to the audience. They could do this to emphasize a point. My fault in this project was the timing of how the slides overlapped. How can I expect my students to read the text on the slides if I did not time them appropriately? There was not enough allotted time for them to read the information and move onto the next slide. Although I would like to use this in my class for the future, I would pick an easier medium to produce the video project. I would also take more time to ensure that the timing between each scene is appropriate enough for the students to read through and understand the information they are reading.Since my students love social media, I decided to use the course management resource Schoology. Its appearance is similar to Facebook allowing students and teachers to post a number of different things.Teachers are able to post assignments and students can respond to posts, link videos, and see what their peers are posting in response to the teacher's assignments. I chose to post on the appropriate usage of the words lose, loose, and lost. I started out by linking a short YouTube video on the uses of those words. This is a helpful resource for the students to refer to before the assignment so they have a better chance of providing the correct answer. Then, I provide a passage for the students to read through and correct the italicized words lose, loose, lost. I tried my best to make the passage as "youth friendly," as possible. I want my students to be able to relate to the content that we go over in my classroom while learning the importance of differentiating these terms or homophones. I believe that integrating a medium of technology along with an instructional passage can help my students grasp this concept better.
Schoology Website
Grammar: Lose or Loose?This link will bring up the editing assignment that I created for my students using the Schoology website. This academic site is very similar to the popular social media forum Facebook, and I think this will help my students to easily navigate it. I posted the YouTube video along with a paragraph that I want my students
to edit using the information that they gathered from the YouTube video. I intentionally posted a paragraph that I believe would interest my students: dating! Learning is fun when teachers link a universal theme or
concept, like love or dating, to academics. I made the paragraph trite to amuse my students and spark their interest in understanding homophones. This is an assignment I would use as a brain-teaser. This assignment would be the equivalent to cardio in exercise: this would get the blood flowing to the brain and help warm the students up for a bigger assignment.
Oral History Assignment
As I stated previously in this course, my ultimate goal is to teach in a Title I school. I find that so many children from these schools do not know much about their predecessors, especially those that resemble them in looks, dialect, and background. What better way to connect to them than have them study someone they can relate to? There are two very important concepts that I want my high school students to gather from this oral history assignment: history is an essential component of growth and humility is an essential character trait. These concepts encompass my mission statement of teaching, as I teach to inspire my students universally that extends beyond high school. Above, I have included a video of some colleagues, friends, and relatives speaking about the life of Mr. Philip Simmons during his funeral. I find that his legacy is important for my future students as they can learn more about the history present throughout the city they call home. I also think his backstory can inspire them to see that they do not have to be a product of their environment. Mr Simmons was born in Daniel Island, but had to go to school in Charleston (Buist Academy) because during the time of segregation he was unable to attend schools closer to his home. Can you imagine if he was a product of his environment?This video would be included as another example of a oral history video entailing the life of Mr. Philip Simmons. I would give my students two options in this assignment: I would have them conduct an interview with someone that personally knew Mr. Simmons (whether that's a family member or friend). This interview would have to be at least 3 minutes long and either audio or video recorded, also asking that students provide a 2 page research page explaining the significance of Mr. Simmons' contributions to Charleston and why his legacy is so important. I think that requiring them to conduct their own research prior to the assignment would be helpful in them gathering questions and other important information that could be used in the interview. Below are some resources that they could use to begin their research to develop ideas for their interviewing process. I will attach a copy of the assignment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG7PIryK9EMhttp://philipsimmons.us/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwOFoasI5bUhttp://www.philipsimmons.us/simmonsshop.html
Wikispace for Ms. Rav's Class English II CP Class
The wikispace I created is an extension of my oral history project. The reason why I decided to use wikispace to further expand the detailed instructions on the oral history project is because wikispace compartmentalizes the different parts of the project. I would assign this project as a semester long one, focusing on a research paper component as well as the actual interview. Like most educators, I believe that the wikispace is a safe way to ensure that their students always have access to their assignments. With the wikispace, your students will have no excuse as to why they missed a portion or part of the assignment. Along with the Wikispaces, I will provide my students with a hard copy of the assignment. This is ideal for those that do not internet access at home.Using wikispaces, everything is directly in front of them and easily accessible.Expectations and Benefits of using Wikispaces
pect for my students to use the calendar on the Wikispace to ensure that they are up to date in turning in their assignments since this is a semester long project. I also expect for my students to utilize the Wikispace as a means of gathering input from their classmates and myself about their projects as they work on it. The Wikispace will eliminate most of the paper trail associated with large assignments. The Wikispace acts as a forum for the students to refer back to as a reference point for the assignments.The compartmentalizing of the different sections the project is broken up into will benefit the students. The tabs on the right side, which are the sections of the project, will help the students understand the project as a whole.
MsRavsENG2CP
Blogs in Ms. Ravenell's Classroom
The only thing that is constant in life is change, Things that were used when I was in elementary, middle, and high school are becoming prehistoric. For example, I learned how to write in cursive in the third grade, and now that is becoming something of the past. Within the realm of teaching, I am constantly reminded of how far away we are getting from using the traditional pencil and paper method for learning and leaning more toward using technology to replace the tools of pencil and paper. This picture represents the main reason I would use blogs within my classroom. Documenting, reflecting, connecting, and sharing those ideas with people is an important component in writing. I think that blogs would serve the purpose in my classroom of having my students to "write" everyday although it may i may not be regarded as "writing" in the traditional sense. Again, utilizing pencil and paper is becoming a thing of the past, but as long as my students are documenting their ideas and formulating thoughtful and conclusions from their observations is important to me.
Introducing Blogs in my Classroom
Before I assign my first blog assignment to my class, I plan on going through the "how-to's" of using Edublogs in my classroom. This will ensure that my students know how to navigate the platform of blogging and how we will use it within the class. It would be a step-by-step process of responding to a blog post (of which I wold pick the topic) and having them to collectively respond during this "how-to" session. Not only would I show them how to navigate it through my class, I also hope to learn what they know and are familiar with in regards to blogging.Blogging Assignments
I want my students to understand why it is important to be able to effectively communicate outside of an academic platform, as well as within. I will base my assignments around things happening in pop culture or topics that will directly effect them. For example with the upcoming election, I would post a topic centering around what are their values and what's important to their culture. I would then get them to consider, based on their answers, what their ideal leader would look like. So, they are documenting their ideals and reflecting on those ideals they visibly posted. I would then get them to connect their ideals to another person's in the class, or I may ask that they chose someone that strongly contrasts from their own. Assignments like this would allow them to use blogging as a facilitator in teaching them how to openly and respectfully communicate their thoughts. This is an important skill that they will use beyond my classroom.Educational Technology Publication
Equality is very important to me. The practice and maintenance of equality is especially important within the education system. Teachers are constantly influencing individuals. It is important that treating all students as equals is promoted. As a future educator, I believe that advocating for my students is as equally as important as providing them with the best instructional practices that I can. My duty is to make sure that they receive the best education I can provide, as I believe that all students deserve fair and equal treatment. This is a reason why I The article "Intended and Unintended Consequences on Social Inequality" examines the inequality issues surrounding educational technology."Intended and Unintended Consequences of
Educational Technology on Social Inequality"
The authors Tawfik, Reeves, and Stich use the article to focus on inequalities that are present within the education system, focusing specifically on social inequalities. Research shows that social inequality leads to an increase in mental health problems, imprisonment rates, school-dropout, drug usage, and instances of teen births (598).. Also, a student's socioeconomic background, and their ethnicity creates an inequality for these students. The lower the student's parental income, education, and occupation the less likely they will attain educational achievement. This article examines the gap that the access and usage of technology in the classroom can help to close these inequality gaps.Tawfik, Reeves, & Stich present evidence within this article of how schools with lower socioeconomic status' lack the educational technology for students. Those students that may have available access to technology in their classroom have an advantage over those schools that serve students with lower socioeconomic status. Ultimately, using technology within the class is a means of opening up opportunities and enhancing student success. The inequality within educational technology is that those that are not presented with the same educational technology opportunities as those that come from privilege.
This is the downloaded pdf of the article. I located it on Education ProQuest
Smore Newsletter
Smore NewsletterI am leaning towards structuring my classroom towards the flipped format, and I believe having my students create a newsletter during a computer based learning period would allow them to apply what they reviewed at home and apply it in my classroom. This media creation would allow for expression, creativity, and a thorough understanding of the content. Creation is one of the best ways to exercise application. My assignment would entail my students creating a newsletter using the website Smore. The site is user-friendly, as I was able to easily navigate through and create a sample newsletter for my students to view.I would have my students act as though they are business owners (independently or with another individual or group of people), and I would have them to create a newsletter in class using Smore. The first class we would spend creating their individual newsletter pages, and then each day during class they could have 30 minutes to work on it each time they come to my class.
How does this relate to English?
Newsletters are a way for businesses to market and advertise their brand. They use them electronically and some are even handwritten I would tie this into a lesson on formulating, writing, and creating an effective argument. This would just be a "pre reading media creation" assignment to lead them into persuasion and arguing points, formally and informally.Edited Assignment
For this assignment, I decided to edit the oral history project that I designed around Mr. Philip Simmons, the iron worker from Charleston, SC. My belief is that creativity is prompted when an educator allows students to create work without setting limitations of their work. I made that mistake with my first version of this project. I asked that my students solely focus their oral history projects on Philip Simmons instead of allowing them to chose their own person to research and interview for the project. Although I decided to not limit their projects on Philip Simmons, I would still provide his videos that I used in the initial oral history project that I created. This example will get the students thinking into the frame of mind of uncovering factual informationOne of the biggest changes I made to this project is allowing my students to chose their own "local leader" to research. The only limitation I placed on the assignment is that the individual has to be from Charleston. It is still important for me that my students learn and study individuals that they can relate to in some form.I listed blacks from Charleston, but will give my students the option to chose someone not listed. I provided a list of "local leaders" for them to chose from, although it is not mandatory for them to chose from the list, as I think options are important. I also attached an example of an assignment sheet including more information and assignments pertaining to the project that I would distribute to my students. I also put together a tentative list of due dates pertaining to the project.
Below, I have attached a copy of the assignment sheet that I would give to my students.
Reflecting on the semester I spent with technology
I could not have taken this course at a better time. Along with this course, I am in EDUC 592, which focuses on teaching ELA to high school students. The different types of technology that I have been introduced to in this course as well as how to use them will help me so much once I begin my career in teaching. The days of students reading from a tangible book are long one, as technology is such an integral and normal part of technology.How has this course changed me?
I believe that experience shapes our views. I work in an ED classroom, so when I create things as supplement material to help my students, I often think of the most thorough and concise way of doing so. When things are explained in a clear and concise manner, our students are most likely able to follow. As I believed and openly stated conforming to using technology is necessary, and prior to this course I was one of those afraid of doing so.